STAMFORD — A city man charged with raping and kidnapping a woman he and a friend lured out of a Bedford Street bar eight years ago, has pleaded guilty to greatly reduced charges at the Stamford courthouse and avoided jail in the case.

Shandan Sallaj, 37, pleaded guilty to single counts of first-degree reckless endangerment and fourth-degree sexual assault before Judge Bruce Hudock. He will be sentenced on March 22.

The pleas were made under the Alford Doctrine, which means Sallaj did not admit his guilt but concedes he could be found guilty of the crime if the case went to trial.

Stamford State’s Attorney Richard Colangelo said that in the May 2010 incident, Sallaj had inappropriate physical contact with a woman’s “intimate parts” without her consent. The plea agreement calls for Sallaj to be given a two-year suspended sentence and three years probation.

He will have to register as a sex offender on the state’s Sex Offender Registry for 10 years, and for the eight months following his sentencing he will be on electronic monitoring and prohibited from leaving his home, unless it is for a doctor appointment, work or religious purposes, Colangelo said.

“I think the case resolved in a fair manner and it is something my client wants to put behind him,” said Sallaj’s attorney Stephen Seeger.

A co-conspirator in the case, Shefki Mahmutaj, also pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment and attempted fourth-degree sexual assault in 2012, while receiving no jail time but was deported soon after to his native Albania.

Court records show the men met a woman on the dance floor of a Bedford Street bar. Outside, they took her cell phone and led her to their car, which she entered once they promised to take her back to the bar, according to the victim's statements in an arrest warrant affidavit. The woman told police she did not feel threatened at this point, but that once one of the men began driving, the other came on to her in the back seat.

The men drove her to Aquila Road, according to the affidavit. The woman was able to see the street sign and texted its name to a friend. Then the men told her to get into a black Lincoln Town Car parked nearby.

One of the men drove off as the other tried to come on to the woman in the back. They parked and both men sexually assaulted her, court records allege. The woman told police her attackers dropped her off in downtown Stamford. She called a friend who came to pick her up and bring her to Stamford Hospital, where she reported the sexual assault and a rape kit was completed.